Gas burner and flame deflector



July 27, 1965 J. T. ALGER 3, 7

GAS BURNER AND FLAME DEFLEC'I'OR Filed March 25, 1963 i/WE/vme Jz-eer 7T 44 GEE United States Patent 3,196,927 GAS BURNER AND FLAME DEFLECTOR Jerry '1. Alger, Sunset Hills, Mm, assignor to White- Rodgers Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Mar. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 267,639 3 Claims. ((31. 158-113) This invention relates to gaseous fuel burners and particularly to burners formed from sheet metal and including flame shaping means.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved gas burner which operates quitely, producing a steady, uniform, annular flame pattern over a relatively wide range of fuel flow rate without flash back.

A further object is to provide a durable and reliable gas burner formed from sheet metal including a circular flame shaping element for producing an annular flame pattern and being of particularly simple and economrcal construction.

Qther objects and advantages will appear from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a burner constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the burner shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a left end elevational view of the burner shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the head end of the burner with the flame shaping disc removed to show the burner ports;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partially sectionalized side elevational view of the head end of the burner; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawing in more detail, the burner consists of two elongated sheet metal stampings designated at It and 12, each of which is provided with a continuous lateral flange. The flange 14 of upper stamping 10 and flange 16 of lower stamping 12 are clamped together by forming the wider flange 16 of lower stamping 12 over the narrower flange 14 of upper stamping 10, as shown in detail at 18 in FIG. 5. The stampings 1t) and 12 are so formed as to provide, when thus clamped together, an elongated burner comprising a necked down axial fuel inlet 20, a somewhat enlarged diameter air inlet section 22 having a pair of laterial air ports 24, a ggnturi-form mixture tube section 26, and a port section The port section 28 comprises a relatively short enlarged cylindrical end portion projecting upward at 90 to the axis of the mixture tube. The stamping lti being formed from sheet stock the upper end of port section 28 is consequently closed and a plurality of sector-shaped ports 30 are formed in this closed end by slitting along radial and arcuate lines 32 and 34 and forming outwardly the detached tab portions 36 along lines 38 as shown in particular in FIG. 4. The ports 30 are not complete sectors to the extent that they are truncated at their apices to permit the retention of a central circular portion 40, and the sector ports are angularly spaced so as to retain radial strips 42 for supporting the central circular portion 40.

Attached to the upper end of the port section 28 and disposed transversely to the axis of port section 28 and thereby to the flow issuing from ports 36) is a circular disc 44 of considerably larger diameter than the total port area. The disc element 44 is formed as a sheet metal stamping and is provided with a central, downwardly extending, frusto-conical hub portion 46, the lower closed "Ice end 48 of which is of substantially the same diameter as the central circular portion 40 retained in the upper end of the port section 28. The extent to which tabs 36 are formed upward is such and the included angle of the conical hub portion 46 is such that the wall of the conical hub portion engages at least the upper ends of the tabs when the surface of the lower end 48 of the conical hub portion 46 engages the surface of the retained central circular portion til, see FIG. 6. These two surfaces are spot welded together as at 50. The adjacent surfaces of tabs 36 and the conical hub portion may be made parallel and contiguous if desired. I prefer, however, to arrange these surfaces so that the contact between the conical hub and the circularly spaced tabs occurs near the upper end of the tabs to insure rigid support of the disc element while permitting wider manufacturing tolerances.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the operation of assembling the flame shaping disc element 44 to the burner has been made extremely simple and economical and that the rigidity of the attachment is greatly enhanced by tabs 36 which support the conical hub portion 46 above its point of welded connection to the burner. The forming of sector ports 30 by cutting along lines 32 and 34 and bending up the thereby detached tab portions not only provides a support nest for the conical hub portion of the flame shaping disc 44, but also provides considerable effective port depth which in turn reduces the possibility of flash back at low fuel input. Two adjacent tabs 36 and the section of wall of conical hub 46 between them form three enclosing sides for each port 3t) and thereby add considerably to the effective depth of the ports.

The air inlet portion 22 is provided with a slidably mounted air shutter 52 formed of sheet metal. The air shutter is formed to circumscribe the periphery of the air inlet portion 22 in sliding fit relationship and is of such axial length as to completely close ports 24 when in the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The shutter is formed wtih a loop 54 at one side and is open on the other side to clear the flanges 14 and 16 and permit axial sliding of the shutter. The means for locking the shutter in any axial adjusted position comprises a screw 56 threadedly engaged in the Wall of the air inlet section and a cooperating axial slot 58 in the shutter.

When fuel is supplied at the inlet 20 at a prescribed rate and ignited at the ports 30 and the air shutter 52 is properly adjusted, a circular flame pattern, as generally indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 1, will result. As the fuel-air mixture issues from ports 30, it is deflected laterally by the surface of the conical hub portion 46 and the disc 44 until it reaches the edge of deflector 44 whereupon it naturally rises vertically. In the area indicated at 66), along and adjacent the surfaces of the conical hub portion 46 and the underside of the disc 44, burning of the mixture does not occur due to lack of secondary air, and therefore a cooling stream of mixture blankets these surfaces which, being relatively cool, absorb heat from the relatively hot peripheral portion of the disc where burning does occur at the surface of the metal.

In the customary method of fastening a transverse disc-like flame shaper to a burner head by a central rod supporting the disc and attached to the burner, the heat transfer path is limited to the supporting rod. In applicants arrangement it has been found that due to the substantially increased mass and heat conducted path provided by the walls of the cone 46 the temperature of disc 44 is held sufliciently low to permit constructing the disc 44 of ordinary inexpensive cold roll steel sheet instead of expensive high temperature alloy steel which is usually required in conventional constructions.

It will be further noted that at least a substantial portion of the mixture issuing from the ports 30 will be deflected tangentally with respect to the surface of the conical hub due to the acute angle of tabs 36. This deflection, together with its inherent tendency to rise, imparts a spiral motion to a considerable portion of the mixture adjacent the surface of the cone. Due to this spiral motion and the fact that a plurality of equally spaced, annularly arranged ports are provided, a particularly uniform circular flame pattern is achieved.

It is to be understood that the burner may be constructed for vertical mounting instead of horizontal, as shown, in which case port section 28 at the end will be in axial alignment with the mixture conduit instead of at 90 thereto.

The foregoing description and the drawing are intended to be illustrative and not limiting, the scope of the invention being set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A gas burner having a mixing tube portion, fuel and air inlets at one end thereof and a sheet metal end Wall at the outlet end thereof, a plurality of circularly arranged burner ports in said end wall surrounding a central imperforate portion of said end wall, and a plurality of circularly arranged and outwardly projecting support tabs each adjacent a burner port, said support tabs being partially detached portions of said end wall formed outwardly thereof along the undetached portions of their peripheries, a flame shaping disc mounted in outward spaced relationship with said end wall, said disc having considerably larger diameter than that of a circle circumscribing the outer edges of said circularly arranged ports and being arranged substantially parallel with said end wall and thereby substantially perpendicular to the walls of said ports, said disc having a central hollow conical hub portion extending from one side thereof to a truncated end, which end abuts and is rigidly con- 4t nected to said central imperforate portion of said end wall, and said circularly arranged support tabs engaging the wall of said hollow hub portion between said disc and said end wall thereby to provide additional support means for said flame shaping disc.

2. A gas burner as set forth in claim 1 in which said flame shaping disc is formed from sheet stock, in which said hollow hub portion is formed as an integral part of said disc, in which said hollow hub portion has the form of a truncated cone with a closed end, and in which closed end abuts and is spot-welded to said central imperforate portion of said burner end wall.

3. A gas burner as set forth in claim 1 in which the undetached portions of the peripheries of said circularly arranged tabs, along which said tabs are formed outward, extend generally radially from said central portion of said end wall, whereby the wall of said conical hub portion is engaged by the inner edges of said tabs, and said tabs being formed outward at an acute angle to said end wall whereby a generally tangental direction with respect to the surface of said conical hub portion is imparted to at least a substantial portion of a combustible mixture issuing from said ports.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 799,956 9/05 Willson. 1,156,845 10/15 James. 1,404,610 1/22 Higgins 158116 2,396,800 3/4-6 Mills 15899 2,558,057 6/51 Mun 158-113 X JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner.

MEYER PERLIN, Examiner. 

1. A GAS BURNER HAVING A MIXTURE TUBE PORTION, FUEL AND AIR INLETS AT ONE END THEREOF AND A SHEET METAL END WALL AN THE OUTLET END THEREOF, A PLURALITY OF CIRCULARLY ARRANGED BURNER PORTS IN SAID END WALL SURROUNDING A CENTRAL IMPERFORATE PORTION SAID END WALL, AND A PLURALITY OF CIRCULARLY ARRANGED AND OUTWARDLY PROJECTING SUPPORT TABS EACH ADJACENT A BURNER PORT, SAID SUPPORT TABS BEING PARTIALLY DETACHED PORTIONS OF SAID END WALL FORMED OUTWARDLY THEREOF ALONG THE UNDETCHED PORTIONS OF THEIR PERIPHERIES, A FLAME SHAPING DISC MOUNTED IN OUTWARD SPACED RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID END WALL, SAID DISC HAVING CONSIDERABLY LARGER DIAMETER THAN THAT OF A CIRCLE CIRCUMSCRIBING THE OUTER EDGES OF SAID CIRCULARLY ARRANGED PORTS AND BEING ARRANGED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLE WITH 